Hey, all, it's SKK reporting. I know LV wasn't too excited about Sonic opening in Randallstown today since fast food really isn't her bag.
But I headed out there to see what all of the fuss was about. (Well, I sort of get what all of the fuss is about -- I used to live in Texas and got the occasional slushie as a treat when I was a kid, but I never really thought about it that much until I moved here, where we get the commercials, but didn't have any easily accessible locations. But I digress.)
David Crocetti, co-owner of the Randallstown location (at 8212 Liberty Road), said they'd looked at the demographics and the strong traffic count in the area and decided it was a good place to build. But also, he said, "It was a city that wanted a Sonic and that encouraged us to come here."
Sonics offer, Crocetti said, food made-to-order, dozens of varieties of drinks, slushies, shakes, sundaes, salads, wraps, chicken sandwiches, burgers and more, served drive-in style delivered by carhops in roller skates.
Though the official opening was at 10 a.m. today, the kitchen had a test-run Wednesday. After a friends-and-family event, the location opened unannounced for two hours, "to slam the kitchen," Crocetti said, and make sure they were ready.
There was a lot of social-media buzz going on regarding the opening, and it had worked.
"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Twitter," said Mark Harris of Randallstown, who was taking phone orders from his friends and family and waiting to be among the first walk-up customers. He looked around at the carhops on skates, who were preparing for the first wave of customers, and noted, "They've got it staffed; they're ready for us."
In fact, Crocetti said, he and co-owner Sean Martin had hired 130 people to staff the restaurant.
First in line was Jeffrey Sears, who'd driven in from Essex and arrived around 8:30 a.m. "I just love Sonic," he said, adding that he drives about an hour and a half from Essex to the Hanover, Pa., location about once a month. His first order from the Sonic closer to home? "A SuperSonic cheeseburger, chili cheese tots and a Campfire Blast."
Cory Evans, 19 and of Randallstown, was among those who was ready for Sonic to come to his neighborhood, ready enough that he was first in line to place a walk-up order.
"I was tired of watching the commercials and not actually being able to get it," he said. "Now I can."
After a bit of a snag with the audio, the order-taker finally heard what he wanted, and he was pleased with it, a No. 13 -- a bacon, egg and cheese "toaster."
Jonn Mack of Randallstown became a fan of Sonic while doing relief work in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina.
"We used to eat lunch there every day," he said. He'd noticed the new location when he was driving by and got in the line to order food for himself, as well as his wife and daughter, who were waiting at home.
Sharon Campbell of Randallstown, waiting for her order at the drive-through, had been waiting for a Sonic to come to town, too.
"Every time we go to North Carolina, we have to stop at Sonic," she said. She'd seen the signs when construction began in her neighborhood and she was thrilled. So was her son, for whom she was picking up some food -- "two No. 5s and a grape slushie."
(Photo of Jeffrey Sears and his SuperSonic Cheeseburger, Sarah Kickler Kelber/The Baltimore Sun)